For a sunny, end-of-summer Saturday it's been busy around here. Feeding the birds, taking a long walk, a full hour of morning meditation before the sun came up. And then pizza.
I think pizza fits in nicely when things are so simple and pleasurable and all the senses are engaged and you have an extra 40 minutes to spare before lunch.
I used the pizza dough recipe from "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" which is pretty darn easy, and very tasty.
Today I started out by browning some Vidalia onions in olive oil, and then a cup of a variety of mushrooms (portabello, oyster, white button) and while that was cooling I spread some fresh marinara sauce over the rolled out dough. Then I chopped up some left-over broccoli and spread that around. Sliced some tomatoes from the Farmer's Market and layered them all over. I 'grated' some fresh cheese (made locally) and scattered that. It was a bit soft so they were kind of clumps but ended up being just the right taste.
Put the whole thing in the oven for 20 minutes and then enjoyed one of the best pizzas ever!!
Delicious!
I have been so pissed off by the ridiculous "outrage" about President Obama's school speech that if I'm not careful I can let it ruin my day. Getting my hands on some dough, slicing onions, mushing fresh cheese through a grater all help me get back to the things that are real, that really matter, and that I can actually do something about.
Sitting down at the table with my husband and my youngest kid and enjoying a delicious pizza together .... THAT is really what my life is about.
Today.
Dough is my enemy. I never, ever get the rise or the kneading right, only get the urge to try anymore once or twice a year. Other than that, sounds great.
ReplyDelete(If your cheese place does fresh mozzarella, just plopping the balls on top of the pizza works out great. They melt and spread out fine.)
With you on the fresh food. I've never found it to be the secret to weight loss myself (my metabolism is efficient, nyah), but I could see how cutting out the restaurants would do it.
Art: That recipe sounds delicious. I love homemade pizza.
ReplyDeleteKeifus: A little trick I've passed on to folks who have problems with yeast dough...
Add a wee bit of sugar to the warm water before adding the yeast. And then, before adding the disolved yeast to your mixture of other liquids, let it bubble up some, just to make sure it's going to grow. (If you want to avoid something sweet, and you're if you're using milk, a little warmed yogurt will do nicely.)
As for kneading...yeah. Only doing it often will give you that feel you get...knowing when it's enough, but not too much. In my experience, it takes about 10 to 12 minutes. Some folks are tempted to quit after only 5 or 6...
When Tom was still alive, I made bread of some sort every day. I was kneading dough at least five days out of seven. I wish I could explain better some tips to help, but even when I was baking all the time...when it came to cooking, I was much better at showing then telling.
cat - so next time I get near Missoula can we plan for you to SHOW me?? :)
ReplyDeleteI'm going to try your tips ... I'm sure they will help. My first batch was very frustrating as I left about 1/3 on the counter. Second time was better.
And, I'm making it again tomorrow so I"ll let you know! :)
Hi Cat, I believe we've had this exchange (your helpful advice seems verrry familiar), and I am pretty sure it's the kneading. And you know, all the recipes say five mintues. I am due for another experiment in a month or two.
ReplyDelete(And yes, it's a matter of five minutes of someone's time: "yes, stop here, that is the right texture.")